1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of integrated circuit, and particularly to a configurable integrated circuit employing nonvolatile memory.
2. Description of Related Art
Power management integrated circuit market is growing rapidly for applications ranging from telecommunications, wireless devices, adaptive automotive systems, home appliances, to Internet security. Power management chips operate cooperatively with microprocessors for controlling various functions on a system. Consumer electronics, handheld devices, and desktop computers may require an integrated circuit to have different analog specifications and signal couplings with external chips.
Conventional power management chips provide outputs with digital values without analog output capabilities. For example, many analog functions require transistors to operate at a higher voltage than the typically 5 volts in a digital system. Other conventional power management chips provide separate integrated circuit device for each voltage level. More recently, manufacturers trim various internal reference voltages during wafer fabrication by burning fuses or via laser beams, which are limited to a one-time modification. None of these solutions are ideal due to their functional limitations and reduction in yield counts.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a power management chip that provides an integrated circuit with configurable analog functions.